


Believe

by Overhead_Rains_AurORA



Category: Freezing (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-21
Updated: 2013-02-21
Packaged: 2017-11-30 01:05:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/693596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Overhead_Rains_AurORA/pseuds/Overhead_Rains_AurORA
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stigmata is a powerful source certainly worthy of respect. It is the basis from which the Novas dominate and the Pandoras retaliate. However, is physical power the only aspect of stigmata that's thoroughly explored? For Kazuya Aoi, a lack of institutionalized introduction to stigmata would prove to be the most beneficial thing in his quest to make sense of everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Believe

**Disclaimers, Notes, and Adverse Opinions**  
  
This story attempts to be faithful in accordance to the official manga in terms of history and characterization whenever possible. However, the author is not perfect, and any perceived deviation from the official title can be treated as OOC, AU, or just a mistake on the author's part.

This version is to be a rough draft of the final version posted elsewhere. Content posted here may contain spelling mistakes and content (usually policy-violating) that the author chooses to excise from the polished, final version.  
  
All aspects of the manga Freezing belong to their respective parties.  
  
 **And now, here we go!**  


Kazuya Aoi yawned silently, it seemed that he has overexerted himself researching this time. His eyes looked around his bedroom, half converted to a study for his reading and writing efforts, eyes settling upon a small notebook that was half covered by sheets upon sheets of scribbled-upon loose-leaf paper. He walked over and picked it up, turning off the overhead light in the process, and climbed into bed, flipping on a small cabinet lamp resting on the desk drawer next to him. This was going to be his night reading for tonight.

 

The notebook itself looked almost brand-new, and only the first page of it had seen text, in stark contrast to the rest of the papers that recorded messy thoughts in messy form in Kazuya’s bedroom. He gazed at the first line and read on:

 

_Theorem 1. The potential power of a fixed amount of stigmata for a fixed amount of time is constant, regardless of Pandora._

_Theorem 2. For attack styles, not knowing is inferior to knowing, yet knowing is defeated by not having._

 

_Theorem 3. All Pandoras go through at least the following stages: motivation, sufficiency, direction, clarity, and freedom, in that order._

 

He read theorem 3 again. He’s been motivated for a long time, almost immediately after Kazuha’s death, he devoted his time to researching as much about Kazuha, and Pandoras in general, as possible. At first it was purely for revenge: he wanted to know exactly why those Nova appeared and what was their purpose and when did they first appear and how they operated and what caused the Nova to attack humans and how to defeat them. It was only natural that his research and interest extended to how Pandoras came to be as well. He watched video after video of Pandoras in training, in combat, explaining how stigmata allowed them to beat Nova at their own game.

 

_I wonder how Theorem 3 applies to me?_

 

Kazuya closed his eyes and let his brain drift. He was young and crying again, clutching to a picture of his smiling, wonderful sister. He couldn’t accept why she fought. He understood but he knew he was selfish, that he cherished Kazuha more than he cherished anything or anybody else, and that nobody cherished Kazuha more than he did.

 

“Why... Kazuha nee-chan...” He cried between sniffles. “Why are you so cruel to leave me...”

 

“I think though Kazuha would be secretly happy to see you care about her so much, she would definitely be sad to see you in so much pain.”

 

Kazuya looked up at those words. Gengo Aoi, his grandfather, sat down beside him. His eyes, too, were red with stained sorrow. _Is this the first time I’ve seen grandpa so sad?_

Either way, he tried to control his emotions. He found out that he could stop the sniffing, but the tears keep coming out, but it did make talking a lot easier. He looked down and asked grandpa a question that’s been on his mind since he learned to news of Kazuha’s death.

 

“Could she have been saved?”

 

“Why do you ask that? You can’t go back and change the past.”

 

“I've been thinking that... if there were only one more person by Kazuha nee-chan’s side, maybe she could have survived.”

 

“Well, since she was the best, she had the toughest part of the mission. I don’t know if other people would have performed as well as her.”

 

“Hey, grandpa...”

 

“...”

 

“If I worked as hard as her, could I have helped her?”

 

Gengo Aoi thought about it.

 

“I’m sure that if you were truly dedicated and went through the same training that Kazuha went through, you would have done wonderfully. It doesn’t hurt to have Kazuha’s blood running in you as well.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“It means you’re special,” Gengo stood up and rubbed Kazuya’s head, “30% stigma tissue is nothing to scoff at. Come on, let’s go eat, your body needs to take care of itself, especially in times of grief.”

 

That was the first, and only time Kazuya has heard that his body was special. The conversation was vivid in his mind, since it was a major propellor in his urge to understand everything about Nova, and Pandoras, and how he manages to fit in the scheme of things.

 

_30% stigma tissue, huh..._

 

He tried researching it. There are enough online material on Pandora theory and practice that he easily found out how stigmata normally worked: reverse engineered from Nova and inserted into Pandora bodies to “power” them up. However, he found almost nothing on a human body composed of stigma tissue, and he was positive that that was what grandpa said. He decided to ask the forums, to no avail.

 

_Kazoo (1:36 AM): Hey, do you guys know what it means to have your body made out of stigma tissue?_

_@Kazoo KouhouToumakyou (1:56 AM): Uhh... those don’t exist. Stigmata is injected, you can’t just be born with it. It’d be like me saying I’m born with robotic arms._

_@KouhouToumakyou Kazoo(1:57 AM): Hypothetically, if that happened to me, would they be different from injected stigmata?_

_@Kazoo KouhouToumakyou (2:00 AM): Then you wouldn’t be spending time on these forums, haha. Unless you’re zombie Kazuha Aoi, I wouldn’t worry about it too much._

Kazuya flinched at the words “zombie Kazuha Aoi,” but he knew that was the end of that. He read that Pandoras who have recovered after the initial stigma injection noticed a drastic increase in their stamina, agility, and strength. He could, in contrast, barely lift his mattress off his bed if he tried hard.

 

Kazuya abruptly opened his eyes, he saw the notebook lying face down in front of him again.

 

_Can’t  even lift the mattress off my bed with ease, huh..._

Just like legends of humans bestowed with superhuman strength in times of crisis, Kazuya knew of tales of Pandoras exceeding what they thought was possible in the direst moments of a critical battle. It was clear that in times of stress the body was most compatible with injected stigmata, but that didn’t help Kazuya any. He closed his eyes and imagined a wave of energy flowing from his back, traveling down his arms and ejecting from his fingertips, aimed at the notebook in front of him. He opened his eyes.

 

Nothing happened.

 

Sighing internally, he closed his eyes again and contemplated. _Something was amiss, just out of his reach._ It was like this immediately before he completed theorem 3. He tried putting his mind inside the body of a Pandora engaged in battle, but instead his mind saw Kazuha.

 

Her hair disheveled from the intense heat and whipping wind. She retreated slightly from the towering Nova, their eyes locking. Kazuya stood below, his eyes darted towards a wing section of the enemy, it seemed to be getting redder, and suddenly it became white, bright, and hot, aiming towards the recovering Kazuha-

 

_Seal it._

Kazuya heard a distinct _pang_. Opening his eyes, he could have sworn that the far bookshelf was enveloped in a blue patterned web for a split second before fading to nothingness. What he couldn’t deny was everything in that general vicinity was blown against the wall, the loose-leaf papers dancing in the air before settling down.

 

Was that my doing? I knew I had to attack that direction to save Kazuha, and it happened in real life.

 

A thought suddenly clicked in his mind, with excited hands, he found a piece of paper, and quickly scribbled the following words:

 

_Conjecture 4.  Belief and desperation are the two keys to stigmata mastery. Desperation makes the impossible possible, and is converted into belief. Mastery is belief and clarity, though practice makes improvement, desperation fuels the quantum leap._

 

Intense fatigue suddenly set in, he hastily taped the piece of paper to the computer screen to remind him to investigate further tomorrow before passing out in his bed.

  
  



End file.
